Welcome to Economics

Welcome to our Economics course, where numbers meet the real world and the theories behind headlines become tools in your hands. Whether you're new to the subject or already have a budding economist inside you, these classes will challenge you to think critically about how choices are made, resources are allocated, and policies are crafted.

We'll explore the forces that drive decisions, from why coffee costs what it does to how governments respond to recessions. In Microeconomics, we'll zoom in on households, businesses, and markets. In Macroeconomics, we'll step back and look at the economy as a whole, including unemployment, inflation, growth, and beyond.

This site will be your home base throughout the course: you'll find everything from lecture materials and assignments to review tools and current events. Be curious. Ask questions. Challenge assumptions. Economics isn't just about money, it's about choices, systems, and stories. I always say, economics is like psychology, but with numbers.

Let's get to work and have a little fun along the way.

Three-Project Model

These courses are extremely hands-on and seek to develop your understanding of economics not through a lecture only, but through actually taking on the role of an economist and developing your thinking through real-world experiences. Each course has a three-project model, meaning, rather than traditional units, you will take part in a project that spans multiple weeks and uses many economic concepts to develop your response to real-world issues that plague markets, businesses, and consumers.

Microeconomics

Project I: You're the Boss - In our first project, you will develop a business using economic modeling and data analytics to understand how businesses make decisions. In the end, you will take part in a full-scale business pitch that has pricing strategy, cost structure, and market analysis. In the end, we will seek to answer the following Driving Question: How do businesses make decisions in competitive markets

Project II: Market Mayhem - In Project 2, students act as government regulators, analyzing a real-world monopoly or oligopoly and proposing solutions using economic models. By the end, students will be able to answer the Driving Question: When should governments regulate markets, and how?

Project III: Policy Pitch - In our final project of the Microeconomics course, you will develop and pitch a public policy proposal to solve a market failure (e.g., pollution, healthcare, education). You will seek to understand why governments do and do not choose to get involved in the market and how these choices affect economic growth on a microeconomic level. In the end, students will be able to explain the Driving Question: How can we use economic reasoning to address real social issues?

Macroeconomics

Project I: What Just Happened - In our first project, students will develop an economic health report that analyzes the economic performance of a fictional country using macroeconomic indicators. By the end, students will come to understand the Driving Question: How do we know if an economy is healthy?

Project II: Fixing the Future - Our second project sees students develop a macroeconomic pitch on a stabilization plan to a mock government panel that is designed to respond to an economic crisis within the country. Our Driving Question will seek to understand: What should governments do during inflation or recessions, and what happens if they get it wrong?

Project III: Money Without Borders - The final project of the course has students create a digital economic briefing for a multinational company that evaluates risks and opportunities in a global region. Students will come to understand the Driving Question: How do global economies depend on and influence each other?

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Welcome to Economics

Three-Project Model

Microeconomics

Macroeconomics

MATI BARKER | SHE/THEY | EDUCATOR | MATHEABARKER@GMAIL.COM